Display Size Empty 1940s Ancient Age 5 Year Whiskey Bottle. The label and style indicates this is one of the earliest styles of the whiskey, from its first decade of distribution. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. And drinking. 

Size: 7 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 22 in. 

#3728 . 

Ancient Age is a brand of bourbon whiskey currently distilled in Frankfort, Kentucky at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. It first appeared in 1946, distilled by Schenley Distillers Company, a liquor company based in New York City with headquarters in the Empire State Building and a distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Their vast portfolio, including rum, Scotch, and a Canadian whisky with an exclusive contract with the United States Navy, was due to their position during Prohibition, when they were one of only six companies licensed to legally produce medicinal whiskey. The hundreds of small distilleries around the country either closed or were consolidated under Schenley (named after one of those distilleries in Schenley, Philadelphia), Brown-Forman, Frankfort Distilleries, the A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, the American Medicinal Spirits Company, and James Thompson and Brother. Schenley was the largest liquor company in the United States between 1934 and 1937, and was later renamed Schenley Industries in 1949 as they began to absorb manufacturing companies and farmland to have more control over every step of the distilling process. Ancient Age became one of the “Big Four” which dominated liquor sales, alongside Seagram, National Distillers, and Hiram Walker. The collapse of the whiskey industry in the 1960s and 70s led to much consolidation of the market, and Schenley was acquired by the financier Meshulam Riklis in 1968. The Japanese Takara Holdings company bought them in 1981 and later resold them to Age International in 1983. After Riklis reacquired the company during the Economic Crisis of 1987, he immediately sold them for a profit to Guinness that same year. When mammoth conglomerate Diaego joined forces with Guinness and used the Sazerac Company to acquire the George T. Stagg Distillery in 1992, they began a campaign to rename and organize their many lines under the Buffalo Trace Banner, with Ancient Age cataloged as Mash Bill #2. The age statement on most bottles disappeared after the Whiskey Revival of the 2010s, although up until then 5-year, 8-year, and even 10-year statements could be found. It remains one of the most accessible and affordable whiskeys in America for its level of quality.

Commensurate with age. And drinking.